


Sky Lanterns

by goldenbliss



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, I just want to give them the world, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 17:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11879079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenbliss/pseuds/goldenbliss
Summary: Guanlin doesn’t know exactly how and when he fell in love with Jihoon, but he thinks that it has got to do with all the little things that Jihoon does.





	Sky Lanterns

**Author's Note:**

> A contribution to the Panwink community!
> 
> Not rated, Guanlin is still a minor! But the boys do share a kiss towards the end so if you are very particular about that then feel free to skip that part but I wouldn't actually recommend doing so.
> 
> I’m no writer so please look at this story kindly ㅠㅠ 
> 
> Also, if anyone is interested, please listen to these two songs because they give me so much Panwink feels.  
> 1\. 우주를 줄게 - 볼빨간 사춘기 (Galaxy - BolBBalgan4)  
> 2\. 그래도 나 사랑하지 - 스웨덴세탁소 (You Still Love Me, Right? - Sweden Laundry)

** \+ one.   **

The first time Guanlin saw Jihoon was on their first day on Produce 101’s filming site.

He never liked neon colours to begin with. They stood out like a sore thumb and the colours made his eyes hurt. But it was exactly those colours that made Jihoon so visible to him, Jihoon with his green and pink neon laces and luggage bag.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” a boy cried out apologetically when he accidentally wheeled his ugly neon luggage bag over Guanlin’s foot by accident.

The first thing Guanlin saw when he looked down to see what had caused the stabbing pain in his foot were those ugly neon coloured laces.

 _Which idiot_ , he almost cursed out loud, but looked up and saw a big pair of big, shining eyes staring at him.

“Are you hurt? My luggage is quite heavy,” the owner of those pair of eyes asked anxiously.

Guanlin could have sworn that he saw tears welling up in those pair of pretty eyes, and immediately forgot about the throbbing pain in his left feet.

“Uh, y-yeah, I’m fine,” Guanlin stammered in his broken Korean but regretted opening his mouth almost immediately after the words left his lips. No one can blame him though, he had only been in Seoul for less than a year and Korean was difficult to learn.

“Oh! You’re not Korean?” Neon boy asked. Yes, that’s right, Guanlin has decided he would call the pretty boy in front of him Neon boy until he could put a name to the face.

“Thank god you’re not hurt,” Neon boy said as he heaved a sigh of relief. “If it does later, come and find me okay? I’ll get you an ice pack!”

“Hoon-ah, hurry up, it’s almost our turn for registration!” another male around the same age and height as Neon boy shouted from across the parking lot.

“Coming!” he replied before turning back to Guanlin and giving him a large smile.

“We’re probably going to see each other a lot later, aren’t we?” he said as he waved goodbye to Guanlin for now.

Guanlin stood at the same spot, and not quite understanding what the boy had just said because his Korean was just that bad. What was an ‘ice pack’? He wondered if he should have asked for Neon boy’s name. How would he look for him later if he needed that ‘ice pack’ that cute boy was talking about? Not that he was actually really thinking of doing it of course.

Before he had too much time to dwell on his lack of common sense, his friend, Seonho, came over and draped himself around him like a koala bear.

“Hyungggggg, let’s go in too,” the other Cube trainee said as he clung on to the older boy.

“Oh, yeah we should.”

The inside of the filming set was even scarier than what Guanlin had imagined, and at this point, he wasn’t too sure if it was because he was just nervous about his performance later or because the realization of how big the scale of this program is was slowly starting to set in.

He walked through the brightly lit hallway after signing his name on the big white board and found himself facing a hundred and one chairs. Some of the seats were already filled and with his ever so limited Korean, he could make out what the other trainees were whispering as he and Seonho made their way inside.

_“They’re so handsome.”_

_“Are they twins?”_

_“Why is everyone here so good looking?”_

Guanlin tried to ignore all the muffled whispering and the butterflies in his stomach. He grabbed Seonho’s hand and led the younger trainee to the seats, and selected two that was the nearest to him.

The seats slowly filled up as other trainees entered the room in groups. Guanlin was so sick at this point he was just closing his eyes and holding his temple. He couldn’t even be bothered to check who was brave enough to take the first place seat.

With his eyes still closed, Guanlin could hear the trainers making their entrance and greeting all the trainees. Before he knew it, they’ve started to assess the trainees and give them their grades.

“Hey, Guanlin, look,” Seonho suddenly said and stretched his arms out to point at the group of trainees making their way to the bottom of the pyramid. “Isn’t he the boy that rolled his luggage over your toe earlier?”

At the mention of Neon boy, Guanlin opened his eyes and looked down. There were three trainees, two in white and one in black, who were getting ready to perform.

Guanlin squinted hard at the nametag on the one who looked like Neon boy, but his eyesight was quite bad and he could barely make the words out.

Park. Ji. Hoon.

So his name is Park Jihoon, Guanlin thought to himself as the background music started playing. A loud 1990s song started playing and he could see the trainers getting excited as the top half of their bodies danced to the beat. Was it a popular song? Guanlin had never heard of it. He didn’t even know it was from the 1990s until he overheard the group of trainees behind him talking about it.

He was about to close his eyes again until he saw Jihoon’s dancing.

“I wish I could dance like that too, hyung,” Seonho said with a sigh, looking earnestly at the trainees who were performing.

“How is he moving his body like that?” Guanlin asked incredulously. It was impossible, how Jihoon was moving and jerking parts of his body to the beat of the music.

“What’s he doing?” Guanlin whispered to Seonho over the music.

“No idea, hyung,” came the reply. “Never seen it before.”

Guanlin made a mental note to himself to ask Jihoon to teach him how to dance like that, if he ever got to befriend the cute boy with neon laces.

 

** \+ two. **

It had been almost a month since they had started this program and life had nor been easy. Not like Guanlin was expecting it to be, but he still ended up being unprepared for the mental challenges that came his way.

For one, his ability to speak and understand Korean was so limited he had a very difficult time comprehending what the trainers were saying most of the time. To make things worse, Guanlin became scared of standing out in front of his class to even just practice and kept to himself a lot. He didn’t know anyone from the D class because Seonho was the only person he knew on this program and he was in the F class.

“Guanlin, it’s your turn,” Kahi said to him kindly, prompting him to go up to the front to show what he had learned.

But Guanlin couldn’t feel his legs because he was too nervous and he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

“I-I’m not ready,” he shook his head eventually and mumbled inaudibly to the trainer, which ignited a wave of anger in her. That was probably what led to his downgrade to the F class after the re-evaluations were over. Not that Guanlin was complaining, since Seonho was there too.

Today though, they were due to film the revelation of their first ever mission.

“Daehwi will be the first person to pick his teammates since he is center,” BoA explained to the trainees. “Then he will pick the next person who gets to choose their teammates.”

Guanlin looked around and spotted Jihoon fiddling at the back with his friend. A small part of him wanted to be in the same group as Jihoon so that maybe, just maybe, some of the boy’s dance skills would rub off on him.

His prayers were unanswered, however, because Daehwi had picked Jihoon to join his team.

“I want to form the Avengers,” Daehwi explained his choice of teammates.

Sneaky, Guanlin thought, the kids on his team were all the popular trainees. As much as the PD made it sound like talent triumped over everything else, the sad reality was that the most popular trainees would make it to the end.

He got picked to be on another team and it turned out that they would be up against Daehwi’s Avengers team. Both teams would be performing BTS’s song ‘Boy in Luv’.

Well, that worked out pretty well for Guanlin. If he couldn’t learn firsthand directly from Jihoon himself, at least he could watch Jihoon dance, since they were performing the same song and would be in the same vocal, rap and dance classes from now until the next evaluation.

The next time Guanlin met Jihoon was at their first practice class.

“Oh! You’re the boy from the first day!” Jihoon exclaimed when he saw Guanlin walking into the practice room. Jihoon was the first to arrive and wasn’t expecting anyone else to be this early.

“Yeah,” Guanlin said, surprised that Jihoon even remembered him. “And you’re Park Jihoon, right”

“Oh, how did you know my name? And how’s your foot?”

“Saw your name-tag on the first day. And my foot is fine now, don’t worry about it.”

There was an awkward silence between the two boys, who were somewhat still strangers to each other, while they sat in the empty practice room, waiting for the rest of their teammates to join them.

“I like your dancing,” Guanlin blurted out all of a sudden, causing Jihoon to break out in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, scrunching his face up. Was his statement too weird or abrupt?

“Your accent is really cute,” Jihoon laughed and his eyes formed crescents. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?”

“Uhm, Taiwan,” Guanlin answered, feeling a blush creep up his face. This was the first time he has heard someone call his Korean accent ‘cute’ because Seonho would never stop making fun of his broken Korean.

“Cool,” Jihoon hummed. “And if you want, I can teach you how to dance,” he offered. “We’re going to be in the same classes at least until the first evaluation is over anyway.”

“That would be great!” Guanlin said with a wide smile. He was expecting Jihoon to be hostile to him since they were on different teams and it was a survival show, but he was the total opposite.

“By the way, what’s your name?” Jihoon asked.

“Lai Guanlin.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen turning sixteen this year,” Guanlin replied. “How about you?”

“Wow that’s young,” Jihoon answered back. “I’m turning ninete- Oh wait you would probably count it as eighteen right? Unlike us.”

Guanlin quickly did the math in his head. So Jihoon was two years older than him.

“Hyung, why do you look so young though?” Guanlin eventually asked.

“Everyone says that,” Jihoon laughed with his mouth open so wide Guanlin could see Jihoon’s pearly white teeth shining in his face. “It’s the height, isn’t it? I know I’m short,” he joked.

“A-ah, that’s not what I meant,” Guanlin panicked, afraid that he had offended Jihoon.

“It’s a joke, Guanlin, but on a serious note I guess it’s just because I have a lot of baby fat.”

“I see.”

“You should still call me hyung though.”

“Of course, hyung,” Guanlin answered, trying to hold back the smile that was about to form on his face.

Befriending Jihoon was easier than he thought it would be.

The day ended with Jihoon going through all the moves from Boy in Luv that Guanlin was still unfamiliar with, and even cutting into their dinner time to teach Guanlin how to do a bit of popping.

“Hyung, you should go and have dinner now, your teammates might scold you for helping me so much,” Guanlin panted as beads of sweat dripped down his face. He had learned quite a lot from Jihoon today. Even his team mates didn’t help him that much and he was starting to feel guilty for taking up so much of Jihoon’s time when he barely knew the boy.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Jihoon waved his hands, brushing Guanlin off. “They’re all fine about it. We all want to look our best on stage don’t we?” he said.

“But you don’t actually really need to try though, you already look very good,” Jihoon said to the younger boy with a wink, causing him to turn red.

“U-uhm what?”

“I’m saying you’re good looking, Guanlin-ah,” Jihoon said with a laugh. “Take it as a compliment and let's go have dinner.”

 _But you’re even better looking than I am_ , was the only sentence that floated around in Guanlin’s head as the two boys made their way down to the cafeteria.

 

** \+ three. **

Practice was never ending and Guanlin was so sleep deprived it was starting to make him cranky. He thought he would finally get some rest after the end of the first evaluation but the PD had other things in mind for them.

Guanlin might also want to add that although his team lost to Jihoon’s team, Jihoon’s captivating performance as his team’s center more than made up for it. He was happy for Jihoon and that was what matters.

It was a Saturday morning and all the trainees were still sleeping in. Guanlin was no exception of course. But unfortunately for them, their blissfulness from catching up on lost sleep was short lived as the loud speakers in the dorms blasted ‘Pick Me’, followed by an announcement that everyone was to assemble in ten minutes.

“This is madness,” Guanlin muttered to himself sleepily. His eyes were not even fully opened as he tried to search the room for his clothes. Deciding between brushing his teeth and being timely, he chose the latter and followed the rest of the trainees as they ran out of the dorms. He didn’t fancy being the last as it would probably attract unnecessary attention.

But wasn’t what this whole show was about? Attracting the camera’s attention? More than two months on this program and Guanlin still didn’t really feel like he fit in anywhere.

Sure, his popularity was really high, putting him in top 11 each week constantly. He was very shocked about it though, despite receiving numerous praises from many people that he was doing very well as a foreigner.

Just as he was about to doze off while waiting for a trainer of some sort to come and pick them up for their next schedule, Jihoon sat himself beside Guanlin and greeted him.

“Good morning, Guanlin!” Jihoon said sleepily. Guanlin wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had time to wash up this morning. Peering through half lidded eyes, he noted that Jihoon had slapped a cap over his head in a bid to hid his unruly bed hair, failing, however, since a tuft of his fringe could be seen poking out from the front.

“Hey, Jihoon-hyung,” Guanlin yawned. “It’s too early for this, I just want to go back to sleep,” he complained to the older boy. His legs were starting to cramp up from sitting cross legged, and he wanted to stretch them badly.

“Don’t fall asleep though, I need to show you something,” Jihoon said, his tone turning slightly serious.

“What is it?” Guanlin asked immediately, getting slightly alarmed because he thought Jihoon had something important to tell him.

Almost as soon as he said that, Jihoon’s expression morphed into one with a ginormous smile and he just went, “Nae-maeum-seo-ge-jeo-jang!” in a cute voice while doing what Guanlin called it the weird rotating rectangle.

The older boy covered his face in embarrassment after doing it and tried to sneak a peak at Guanlin’s reaction through the gaps in his fingers.

“Was that good?” Jihoon asked shyly from behind his hands, making Guanlin felt like he was playing peek-a-boo with a child.

“Ya, hyung, if you’re going to get all embarrassed like that why did you even do it,” Guanlin asked with a laugh.

“You’re the first person I’m showing it to though!”

“What does it mean?”

“Oh, uhm, hmmm, how do I explain it?” Jihoon pondered. “I guess it just means to save someone in here,” he said and pointed to his heart.

“Don’t ask me about the hand actions though I can’t think of an explanation for it except that it resembles a camera frame, you know? Like when you’re taking photos or videos,” he added.

Guanlin’s heartbeat started to quicken. Save you in my heart? Why was Jihoon telling him that he was saving him in his heart? Was there another meaning behind it?

“Ah, I forgot to tell you,” Jihoon continued as he leaned nearer to Guanlin. Goosebumps were starting to rise on Guanlin’s skin and he held his breath, waiting for what Jihoon had to say next.

“I’m planning to do this later during the individual interviews,” he whispered into the younger boy’s ear, deflating every single air headed thought Guanlin had in the past minute.

“Oh,” Guanlin said dejectedly. Wait, why was he even feeling this way? Guanlin shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. Maybe the tiredness was really getting to his head.

“I’ll see you later! I need to ask for more opinions,” Jihoon stood up from beside Guanlin and walked over to Samuel, another trainee from the Avengers team. He could see Samuel cover his mouth with one hand as his whole body shook with laughter.

“What’s wrong?” a hand tapped Guanlin on the shoulder.

Guanlin spun around and saw Seonho behind him.

“Nothing,” he said quickly, trying to hide his irritation. “Just tired.”

“Well okay, but get in line, I think I hear the trainer coming this way.”

Guanlin later finds out that Jihoon had been going around saving everyone in his heart and that it wasn’t exclusive to him.

And if he was honest with himself, the thought of that made him a little jealous.

 

** \+ four. **

The next few months flew by very quickly and the long awaited D-day was here.

The live broadcast of the finale episode of Produce 101 was scheduled to air on Friday, where the top 11 who would get the debut would be announced in front of the audience, on national television.

Guanlin was worried about what he would be doing at this time next week. After one pick started, his position fell to 20 last week and he barely made it into the final round. Was there no one who had him as their first pick? He kept wondering every night as he laid down on his bunk bed at the dorm with his eyes wide open, facing the black ceiling.

There were rumours that the viewers were spreading, insisting that his position didn’t really fall and it was just the PD wanting to stir up some hype.

Whatever it was, Guanlin had to make it to top 11. He was well aware that he was lacking in many areas, especially dance and singing, but if he can’t debut now, he might have to go back to Taiwan. That was the deal he made with his parents when he first came to Korea.

Guanlin leaned back against the mirror in the practice room, trying to cool off. Kahi stepped out for a bit after giving them a ten-minute break because ‘Guanlin can’t seem to keep up and looks like he really needs the break,” she had said.

They were learning this new song for Friday’s performance and despite being less than three days away from rehearsal, Guanlin still had some troubles with being in sync with the rest of his group.

He panted heavily and tilted his head upwards to pour some water in his mouth, and just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Jihoon’s head poking through the gap of their practice room door in the mirrors facing him.

“Yaaaa, what are you’ll doing here?” Daehwi cried out, trying to close the door to keep the other trainees out, but Jihoon had already forced his way through. All the other trainers from the Hands on Me team flooded their practice room.

“Yaaaaaa, guys go back to your own practice room.”

“We’re bored, Hwi-ah, let us sit here for a while,” Jinyoung said with a pout that made him look so cute, Daehwi couldn’t bear to kick him out.

“Okay, everyone except Jinyoung needs to leave,” he finally said, earning a laugh from everyone in the room.

Ten minutes of rest time was way too short for everyone to catch up and discuss their group’s song. But Guanlin managed to that just that and more.

“Hyung, how’s your group’s dance?” he asked when Jihoon made his way over to him. He noticed that Jihoon was always somewhere near him these days, even though they were never once on the same team since the start of the show.

“It’s not bad, Jinyoung is doing an excellent job of being center. You should see the way he rolls his hips.”

Jihoon sat down against the cool mirror glassed and proceeded to take Guanlin's bottled water.

“You don’t mind right?” he asked as he held up the bottle in front of Guanlin. But before the younger boy had a chance to say anything, Jihoon just drank from it, leaving Guanlin speechless because hey, wasn’t that an indirect kiss?

This suddenly gave Guanlin an idea to try something bold. He probably wouldn’t do this to anyone else and who knows? It might just be his last week in Korea so all the more he had to do everything he wanted to now.

“Hyung, Friday is the day that top 11 get announced right?”

“Mmm, yeah it is.”

“I have a request, hyung.”

“What request?”

“Well, if we both make it to top 11, give me a kiss okay?”

Guanlin’s heart hammered hard against his chest as he raised the question cautiously, glancing at Jihoon from the side to check for any form of adverse reaction and wondered why he would even make such ridiculous request. He just really liked the older boy. Just as friends.

Thankfully for him, Jihoon just laughed at Guanlin’s request and tried to act shy.

“Yaaaaa, how can I do that, we’re going to be on live broadcast!”

“Pleaseeeee, hyung, just one kiss, on the cheek!” Guanlin grabbed Jihoon’s arm and gently rocked him back and forth in pleading manner. “It’ll give me the motivation to work harder for this Friday.”

“What are you talking about? You’re definitely going to make it!”

“I don’t know, my rank fell so much last week,” Guanlin said with a sad smile, and let go of Jihoon’s arm.

Jihoon could sense that the other boy was really worried and he understood how Guanlin felt. He felt terrible when his rank fell to third position and seeing how Guanlin fell all the way to the bottom, he could only imagine how stressed out the younger boy was at the moment.

“Ah, alright alright, I’ll give you a kiss if we both make it okay?” Jihoon finally relented.

“A-sa! That’s a promise right hyung?” Guanlin said excitedly just as their dance trainer comes back into the room in time to shoo the other trainees back to their room.

Guanlin didn’t make another mistake during the next half of their practice session.

And needless to say, Guanlin did make it into the debut line up. He even heard that the PD’s parents had made an emergency phone call to their son just to check if he would be eliminated or not. How funny of them, he thought to himself as he chuckled and scanned his surroundings. The eliminated trainees were congratulating each other on the stage below him and he spotted Seonho consoling a crying Minhyun.

Despite feeling guilty for leaving Seonho and the some of his other friends behind, he was filled with so much happiness at the moment it was incomprehensible. He didn’t have to go back to Taiwan and he could stay!

Guanlin saw Jihoon going up and down the pyramid, shaking hands and hugging their group members to be and suddenly remembers the promise Jihoon made.

“Hyung! Jihoon hyung!” he called out to the older boy who was standing at the other end of their level on the pyramid.

“Guanlin!” Jihoon cried out excitedly as he made his way over to him to congratulate him for making it to top 11. “See, what did I tell you?” he playfully whacked Guanlin on the shoulder.

“You were right hyung,” Guanlin grinned and pointed to his cheek, “So can I have my kiss now?”

“Ah damn, I was hoping you would forget about that.”

“Hyung!”

“There are so many people here, Guanlin-ah!”

“Just a quick one! No one will see I promise!” he said to Jihoon who was just about to turn away.

Jihoon turned around and motioned for Guanlin to come closer to him before planting a quick peck on his cheek and quickly turning away again to hide the blush that crept up his face.

Unfortunately for them (Guanlin thought otherwise to be honest), there were many fan-site photos and even official videos of their kiss. One of which he is currently using as his wallpaper.

 

** \+ five. **

It wasn’t long before all the top 11 had to move into their new dorm. They were due to start filming their variety show Wanna One Go today and the first thing they were going to do was to pick their rooms and roomies.

Guanlin secretly wanted to room with Jihoon and luckily for him, Jihoon ended up choosing the same room as him. Both of them had chosen the big room and he had to thank Sungwoon for filling up the last spot in Daehwi’s room because he heard that their room was Jihoon’s first choice.

Later that night after everyone was done with dinner and all had taken a bath, they decided to just fool around in front of the dozens of cameras that were planted in every corner of their new house. If they couldn’t avoid it, they might as well make the best of it to get as much screen time as possible on their new variety show right?

From the sofa in the living room, Guanlin could hear Jihoon and Woojin laughing inside their room, slapping each other on the back and on the forehead like children.

“Hello everyone, we’re the pink sausages,” both of them said into the air while trying to hold back from giggling.

This caught Guanlin’s attention and he walked over to the room and peered inside, only to be greeted by the Park twins who were wearing ugly matching pink pyjamas that made them look like uncooked hot-dogs.

Jihoon and Woojin did a weird body wiggle in front of the camera and continued laughing to themselves. Guanlin frowned. He wanted to join them too.

“Hyunggggg, can I be a pink sausage too?” Guanlin was hopeful as he asked. Why did he even want to do something stupid like wiggle in front of the camera though? But at this point, it didn’t seem like something lame. It seemed like everything Jihoon did was cool and Guanlin just wanted to be a part of it.

“No, this is for the 99-liners Park brothers only,” Woojin laughed at Guanlin, refusing him entry into their inner circle. Jihoon however, noted how hurt Guanlin looked and was about to protest on his behalf but Woojin added a second statement.

“Maybe if your Korean improves, we can take you under our wings,” he cracked up.

“Really? Okay, I’ll go study now then!” Guanlin’s eyes lit up and he ran into the room to grab his Korean textbook before heading back to the living room, because you know, anything to be part of whatever Jihoon-hyung was doing right?

“Urghhh,” Guanlin groaned from his bed after an hour of staring at his Korean textbook and moving back and forth from the living room to his room. His head hurt and his eyelids were heavy. None of it made any sense and he just wanted to sleep.

“I can’t understand any of this,” he said exasperatedly, feeling frustrated that he couldn’t grasp the concept of the Korean grammar points he was currently studying.

“Guanlin-ah, what’s wrong?” Jihoon asked from the opposite side of the room.

“I can’t do Korean, hyung, it’s so hard,” he replied sadly, wondering how Woojin would let him into their pink sausage group at this rate.

“Aigooo, do you want me to help?”

At the sound of this suggestion, Guanlin’s ears perked up and he sits up straight with an expression on his face that reminded Jihoon of a puppy wagging its tail happily when its owner wants to bring it out for a walk.

“Yes! Can we do it now?”

“Now?”

“Yeah now, I want to finish this chapter before we sleep, hyung.”

“Ah alright, scoot over,” Jihoon said as he got up from his bed and went to sit on Guanlin’s next to him.

They were sitting so close together to the point that their thighs were touching and Guanlin’s skin prickled at the skinship.

“Let’s see… What are you studying now?” Jihoon asked as he peered down onto the younger boy’s Korean textbook.

“This chapter, I can’t really understand why the grammar points are being used here.”

“Would it be better if I gave you example sentences so you could compare the use of the two grammar particles?” Jihoon asked thoughtfully, wondering how he could explain it to Guanlin when he wasn’t a grammar teacher. Korean just came naturally to him and he just knows what to use and when to use it. Trying to teach a non-Korean was going to be a little hard and he wonders if offering to help was the right thing. He didn’t want to teach Guanlin anything wrong.

But while all these thoughts were racing through Jihoon’s head, all Guanlin could think about was how nice Jihoon’s hair smelt like. That was a given since he had just taken a bath, but the shampoo scent was so intoxicating it was blurring Guanlin’s mind and he couldn’t pay attention to what Jihoon was teaching him.

“I guess the difference between the two sentences is that the first is a statement and the second is a demand or request? So there is a difference with the use of the ‘because’ particle here,” Jihoon continued with his teaching and Guanlin snaps back into reality.

“Huh?”

“Did the two examples make sense?” Jihoon looked up at Guanlin with a hint of concern in his voice. “Or are you too tired to comprehend them now? Maybe we should go to bed…”

“Ah no, they make sense!” Guanlin said quickly, not wanting Jihoon to know where his mind had wandered off to just now. “I think I’m done with this chapter so we can go to bed now!” he added, just wanting Jihoon to go back to his own bed so he could breathe normally again.

“If you say so. I’ll come and check up on you tomorrow to see if you remember.”

Guanlin took in a deep breath and tried to clear his muddled thoughts. How and why was Jihoon’s after shower scent affecting him so much?

He finally fell asleep after settling with the fact that maybe he just really likes shampoo. 

Or maybe it’s Jihoon himself that he likes but doesn’t know it yet.

 

** \+ six.  **

Guanlin and Jihoon were guesting on Running Man today and their current mission was to pick strawberries and then make strawberry jam. They were up against the other Running Man members who had split themselves into two teams.

“Okay, you guys can pick from anywhere in this field,” the PD explained to them. “Pick around 3kg of strawberries for jam making later. You’ll be giving the jam out to the people around this neighbourhood after this as part of the Christmas season.”

The boys nodded their heads and proceeded to put on work gloves and collect their strawberry basket.

“Hyung, how do you want to pick the strawberries?” Guanlin asked Jihoon as they walked to the far end of the field, away from the rest of the Running Man members.

“How about we stand on opposite sides of the row and then work our way down?” Jihoon replied thoughtfully. “If you think the strawberry looks ripe and sweet, just pluck it off the stem.”

“Got it.”

The sun was strong today but December’s morning air was cool against their skin and Guanlin was super excited to start picking the strawberries with his favourite hyung.

However, it was 30 minutes later and his strawberry basket was still empty, whereas Jihoon had already filled more than half of his.

“Guanlin-ah, what are you doing? You’re supposed to pick the strawberries, not eat them,” Jihoon whined after he saw Guanlin’s empty basket and thought that he was eating the strawberries instead of putting them in his basket.

But that wasn’t really the case. Guanlin just wasn’t picking anything off the stems because he had his eyes elsewhere.

Since Jihoon was at the opposite side of the strawberry bush, everything he bent down to inspect the strawberries, his head would disappear from Guanlin’s sight. And every time he plucked one off its stem, he would emerge from below with a cute oh I think I found another sweet one expression on his face that Guanlin couldn’t seem to take his eyes off.

That was how the last 30 minutes had gone by, with Guanlin staring at Jihoon picking strawberries, and the one time that Jihoon couldn’t resist and put one in his mouth but puckered up at its sourness, and also maybe his cherry red lips that were moist from the strawberry juice.

He needed to snap out of it. They were being filmed and this was going on national TV. What was he doing?!

“Ahaha…” Guanlin laughed awkwardly. “Sorry hyung, I couldn’t resist. I’ll put them in my basket now,” he tried to cover up the fact that he had been staring at Jihoon, and quickly plucked a few huge red strawberries that were hanging near him and gently placed them in his basket.

Eventually, both of them managed to gather the required 3kg of strawberries and they went back to the meeting point, which had transformed into an outdoor kitchen equipped with a portable stove and all the ingredients they needed for jam making.

When they arrived, they realized that they were the last group to be done with picking their strawberries.

“Yaaaa, how did y’all spend one hour just to pick 3kg of strawberries!?” Jaeseok cried out, pretending to be angry but was actually trying to hold back his laughter.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jihoon and Guanlin apologized to the rest of the Running Man members and the staff who were waiting for them as they made their way to their work station.

“Chaaaaaaa, now we will be making strawberry jams,” Jaeseok explained to everyone. “The task is to fill up ten of these jars here, and the team with the nicest strawberry jam by way of blind taste testing and voting later will win this Hanwoo gift set! There will not be a recipe provided and you have 45 minutes to finish!” _(t/n: Hanwoo [한우] is a type of premium Korean beef.)_

Guanlin set both their baskets on the table and started to wash the strawberries one by one while Jihoon started scanning the ingredients and materials that they were given. There were corn syrup, sugar, and lemons provided, as well as a large cooking pot and a fruit masher.

“It should be quite easy to make the jam right?” Jihoon wondered nervously out loud. He had never made jam before.

“Don’t worry hyung, I’ve made some back home before. My mom loves to make pineapple tarts so I always helped to make the filling. Should be similar to this,” Guanlin said smugly, feeling confident that they would win the beef set home.

“Ah, really? That’s good then because I don’t know how much sugar to put into our jam,” Jihoon eyed the bags of white and brown sugar that was provided. He was a sweet tooth who loved Chupa Chup lollipops so his definition of sweet was going to be very inaccurate.

“Okay, leave it to me, hyung.”

Jihoon stood at the side and watched Guanlin mash up the strawberries and brought it to a boil before adding all the sugar and some lemon juice that he had been squeezing while waiting for the strawberries to boil.

“I think we should use brown sugar since it’s healthier,” Guanlin said and picked up two bags of brown castor sugar without actually checking the labels and assumed straight up that it was 750g worth because that was how heavy he remembered the sugar bags his mom uses back home in Taiwan to be.

But the bags of sugar turned out to be 1kg each and the filming staff was snickering from behind their cameras as they watched Guanlin pour all that sugar into their jam.

“Try it!” Guanlin said excitedly after all the sugar had finally melted and the fire was turned off.

Jihoon stuck the spoon into the pot of hot jam and retrieved it. There was jam all over the spoon and Jihoon blew on it to cool it down, not wanting it to burn his tongue. Guanlin was waiting for Jihoon to try the jam, but to his surprise, Jihoon put the spoon near his mouth and opened his eyes wide, as if signalling for him to open his mouth so he could feed the younger boy.

“You try it first! You made the jam,” Jihoon smiled and lifted up his spoon as if wanting to feed a baby food.

Guanlin obliged and opened his mouth for Jihoon to stick the spoon of jam inside.

“Mmmm, you’re really sweet,” he murmured in between the mouthful of warm jam, not realizing that he had just said his thoughts out loud.

“Ehhh? What’s sweet?”

“Umm, I mean the jam. The jam is really sweet! It’s good,” Guanlin nodded his head and tried hard not to blush. He wasn’t even really paying attention to the jam and was just hoping that his words weren't caught on camera.

There was still jam left on the spoon so Jihoon licked the rest of the jam off, much to Guanlin’s shock because that would be their second indirect kiss since the first time when Jihoon drank from his bottle when they were still trainees. Again, it’s not like Guanlin was deliberately remembering everything that Jihoon dis. He just has a somewhat great memory. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“Tastes great!” he said excitedly and proceeded to put the spoon down in the sink and unscrew all the jam jars. “Let’s just fill the jars up before we run out of time.”

Maybe if Guanlin didn’t have his mind all over the place, he might have realized that Jihoon’s ‘it’s great’ verdict probably meant that the jam was too sweet.

When all of the teams were done, the PD took one jar from each team and labelled it with their team name before bringing it out of their sight. They had blind taste testing next and each person had to go inside the room and try the jams before voting for the one they liked best.

Jihoon was the first to enter the room. There were three small bowls of jam labelled 1, 2 and 3, with pieces of white bread placed in front of the bowls. He supposed he had to try the jam with the bread.

The first one was sweet, just nice in Jihoon’s opinion, the second was too sour and the third alright but it could be sweeter. Jihoon voted for the first, feeling quite sure that it was their group’s.

Guanlin was next and having the chance to sit and taste the jam properly, he found the first one too sweet for him and settled on voting for the third one instead. Was that his group’s jam? He can’t remember very well since his mind had been eroded from Jihoon’s super sweet action of feeding him earlier on.

He hoped it was though because he needed Jihoon to win the beef. A well fed Jihoon was a happy Jihoon and it was his favourite kind of Jihoon. 

One by one, each person did the blind taste test and voted for the jam they liked best.

“Which one did you vote for?” Guanlin asked right before the PD started counting the votes.

“The first.”

“What? That one is too sweet! I voted for the third, I think it’s ours since ours tasted okay just now right?” Guanlin said, starting to feel slightly unsure of his choice.

“What… Ours wasn’t so bland.”

“Are you sure your taste buds are okay?”

“Maybe not, I have a sweet tooth.”

Crap. That meant the jam they made was too sweet since Jihoon was so certain that theirs tasted ‘great’. Guanlin shook his head and sighed.

The PD was finally done counting the votes and gave Jaeseok the results.

“Chaaaaaaaaa, the results are out so I’ll announce them now. The winner for today’s mission is……Jihyo and Haha!” Jaeseok exclaimed and clapped his hands as the staff presented the hanwoo beef set to them.

“Yaaaa which group made the first jam!” Seokjin cried out after that.

“Guanlin and Jihoon’s!” came a reply from one of the filming staff. Guanlin could hear them giggling and he was pretty sure he knew why.

“Your jam is too sweet! Do you want us to get diabetes!?”

Jihoon pouted and scratched the back of his head. Was their jam too sweet? It tasted alright to him though.

Filming ended for the day with the both of them going around the neighbourhood and giving the remaining jar of jams out to the old folk and wishing them Merry Christmas.

 

** \+ seven.  **

It was two days before Christmas when the sad news came.

Guanlin had just received a phone call from back home from his mother to inform him that the dog he raised since he was a kid just passed away the night before. It fell sick last week and it didn’t get any better even after Guanlin’s parents had taken it to the vet.

He cried and cried non-stop over the loss of a family member to the extent that mourning for his dog suddenly evolved into homesickness. He hadn’t felt homesick in a long time since his trainee days on Produce 101 because he was so busy with schedules these days that he barely even had time to sleep.

Right now there was nothing Guanlin wanted more than to fly back home to visit his parents and sister and visit his dog’s grave. He missed his house, his room, his bed, his sister’s annoying teasing when he used to practice dancing in front of her before he came to Korea, and most importantly his mom’s cooking.

Guanlin liked Korean food, but sometimes he just wanted a bowl of braised pork rice and he couldn’t find that anywhere in Korea which made him sad on days like this.

It didn’t help that it was in the middle of the night and cold as hell.

He cried himself to sleep after he put down the call because it was past midnight and everyone was sleeping already.

The next morning, Guanlin woke up when he heard Jisung’s thunderous voice from the kitchen, yelling at all of them to get up for breakfast so that they can head off for their next schedule. He tried to push himself up, only to fall back down on his pillow because the whole room was spinning. His eyes felt dry and puffy and his head was hurting very badly. The light shining into the room was hurting his eyes and he groaned and covered himself with the sheets.

“Where’s Guanlin?” he heard someone ask from the living room.

“I think he’s still in bed, let me go check,” Jihoon replied and Guanlin could hear him walking towards the room and opening the door.

Jihoon lifted the bed sheets up only to find a very sick Guanlin shivering under the sheets.

“Guanlin! What’s wrong?” Jihoon panicked after he saw the state that Guanlin was in. He placed the back of his hand to Guanlin’s forehead and realized that Guanlin had a fever.

“You’re burning up! What happened?”

“My dog died last night,” Guanlin choked up upon hearing Jihoon’s voice and not being very sure why he was reacting that way. “I’m homesick and I want to go home.”

Jihoon’s heart ached seeing tears stream down Guanlin’s face. He understood that their maknae had it bad because he was a foreigner and his family was so far away from home. Yet he couldn’t do anything to help right now because they still had schedules until at least after Christmas was over.

“Guanlin-ah, don’t cry alright?” Jihoon sat down at the edge of Guanlin’s bed and tried to calm him down by patting his head. “Let me just tell Jisung you’re sick and can’t join us for today’s schedule okay? Then maybe we’ll see if we can talk to manager-hyung and ask for a short break so you can go visit your family in Taiwan.”

When Jihoon got up the bed, wanting to leave the room to look for Jisung, he felt Guanlin’s hand grab his.

“Hyung, don’t leave me here…” Guanlin whispered. He was feeling delirious from the fever now and the room was still spinning. Despite that, he tried to lift himself up so he could sit upright and look at Jihoon.

“Don’t go, stay,” he commanded in a weak voice and pulled on Jihoon’s arm, causing the older boy to lose his balance and fall back down on Guanlin’s bed.

“Guanlin-ah, I have to tell Jisung first–”

“No, just stay, please,” Guanlin pleaded desperately with tears still streaming down his face.

Jihoon let out a long sigh and yelled out. “Jisung-hyung! I think you guys have to go without us today! Guanlin is having a really high fever and someone needs to look after him!”

Seconds later, Jisung popped his head through the crack of the door with a worried expression. “Is Guanlin okay?”

“Yeah, he should be fine after I get him some meds. Tell manager-hyung we’re sorry we can’t go today.”

“Don’t worry about it, I think you’ll be fine sitting out of today’s volunteer work at the orphanage.”

The rest of the group left the dorm, leaving Guanlin and Jihoon alone inside.

“Guanlin-ah, I have to go to the kitchen to get the fever medication for you, just stay here for a minute okay?”

“Don’t want to,” Guanlin whined and shook his head violently but it just made him even dizzier.

“Guanlin, please.”

“Let me do something first, hyung.”

“What is it?”

Guanlin didn’t say anything but just wrapped his arms around Jihoon’s body and hugged him tightly. Jihoon made him feel safe and warm and he just wanted to hug Jihoon for the rest of the day until his damn fever subsided.

They stayed in that position for a good ten minutes and Guanlin just cried. Jihoon could feel the back of his shirt getting damp from Guanlin’s tears but he allowed the younger boy to do whatever he wanted because in any case, the hug wasn’t uncomfortable. Jihoon actually found it nice because Guanlin was bigger in size than he was, making him feel like a cuddly teddy bear, and the warmth emitting from his body on such a cold winter day felt nice on Jihoon’s skin.

Guanlin could feel Jihoon’s heartbeat increase but he was too sick to have it registered in his mind. Maybe if his fever wasn’t so bad, he would have known that Jihoon’s feelings were starting to change.

When Guanlin felt that he was done with crying, he let go of Jihoon and allowed the older boy to go to the kitchen to get his medication, but fell asleep just as Jihoon was coming back into the room with his pills and a mug of warm water.

“Aigoo, what do I do with you Guanlin? You drive me crazy with worry you know,” Jihoon whispered and covered the sick boy with his blanket and left his medicine on the bedside table.

Guanlin thought he heard Jihoon say something just as he was falling asleep, but the fever plagued his mind and he wasn’t too sure if he had heard it correctly.

 

** \+ eight.  **

Less than a month later, in mid-January, Guanlin got his wish about wanting to visit Taiwan.

“Packed everything?” Jihoon asked.

Guanlin nodded his head and looked down once more at his luggage to check that it was locked. He was feeling excited because the whole group would be going to Taiwan for a fan sign and they would be filming Wanna One Go 3.0 while they were there. _(t/n: 3.0 because there is news of 2.0 being filmed in LA.)_

But what was better than being able to go home and visit his family was the fact that Jihoon was actually going with him. Okay, the whole group would be going together but Guanlin doesn’t care. All he thought about these days was Jihoon.

It was past midnight and their manager was waiting for them outside the dorm, ready to drive the boys to the airport for their flight. Their choice of an ungodly departure time was to minimize the number of fans that would be camping outside the airport and obstructing traffic. It was a failure though, because the minute they got off the company van, they were blinded by hundreds of camera flashes as its shutters went off, dozens of times per second.

After clearing immigration and boarding the plane, both boys plopped themselves onto the spacious first class seats that the company had so generously paid for. This was a first for the boys and they were fascinated. They usually only got business class seats. 

They made themselves comfortable and were planning to get as much sleep as possible over the next few hours.

And to nobody’s surprise, Guanlin chose the seat beside Jihoon.

Halfway through the flight, Guanlin was woken up by Jihoon, who had his head on Guanlin’s shoulder. Guanlin smiled and picked up the blanket that fell off Jihoon and covered him to prevent him from falling sick because the aircon was pretty cold.

He smiled lovingly at Jihoon, feeling somewhat blissful that he was actually going on an overseas trip, albeit for work, with one of his most favourite person in the world. He doesn’t really know when he became so clingy to Jihoon but knows he doesn’t ever want Jihoon out of his sight.

Another two hours later and the flight attendant made an announcement over the PA system saying that the plane would be landing soon at Taoyuan International Airport and the weather outside was at 12 degrees.

After squeezing their way through the horrendous mob that awaited them outside the arrival hall, they boarded another van that would be driving them to the hotel, where they would be briefed by their manager on what they would be doing over the next few days.

They would be filming Wanna One Go 3.0 first before the fan sign and they were going to be paired up again, like in the first season of Wanna One Go. However, this time the pairs would be decided using matching coloured sticks instead of voting.

The boys were huddled around the coffee table of one of their rooms, and in the middle of the table, there was a stationary holder filled with wooden ice cream sticks.

“The ends of the sticks are coloured, and there is only two of each colour,” their manager explained. “What you need to do is to pick a stick and you’ll be paired with whoever who got the same colour as you.”

Guanlin doesn’t think he has ever prayed so hard in his life for something.

_Please let me be paired with Jihoon-hyung, please let me be paired with Jihoon-hyung._

The holder was passed around and Guanlin carefully picked one out, not daring to see which colour he had gotten.

“Mine’s pink!” Jihoon shouted out after picking his.

Guanlin peeped at his colour before letting out a scream.

“Yessssssssssssssssssss! I’m with Jihoon-hyung again!”

Now that they were all paired up, they were given their mission cards to instruct them on what they had to do over the next two days. For Guanlin and Jihoon, they would be filming their segment at Guanlin’s house (yes, that meant a sleepover was going to happen and boy was Guanlin happy as a lark), as well as visit two iconic places in Taipei.

Guanlin’s family came to pick the two boys and their camera crew up from the hotel and led the way back to their family home. Thankfully, filming for Wanna One Go 3.0 was still kept a secret from the public and being a private schedule, there weren’t any cars or fans who were following them.

“Dear, you look tired,” Guanlin's mom spoke to Jihoon in English through the rear view mirror of the Lai family car when she saw him yawn. Guanlin had insisted that he wanted to ride his parent’s car instead of with the other staff so Jihoon went along with him. _(t/n: I'm assuming that since Guanlin used live in LA when he was younger, his family did too and so his mother can speak English.)_

“Ah, no I’m fine Auntie, don’t worry,” Jihoon replied in Korean and smiled brightly at Guanlin’s mom. He could understand her English but it was still difficult for him to actually converse with anyone in that language. Nonetheless, he felt touched that Guanlin's mom was making such a great effort to talk to him. 

Jihoon turned and looked at Guanlin, and used his eyes to prompted the younger boy to do abit of translation work for him.

"Oh, right mom, Jihoon says he's alright, and he's sorry he can't reply in English," Guanlin translated and spoke to his mom in Chinese. 

“Guanlin tells me you take care of him in Korea so thank you for that," Guanlin's mom gave Jihoon a big warm smile.

“It’s my pleasure, and thank you for giving birth to such a wonderful and beautiful person and allowing me to meet him,” Jihoon said in Korean with a genuine smile and Guanlin could feel himself heating up as he translated those words for Jihoon.

“Ah, that is so sweet of you! And I’m sorry we don’t have a spare room though, will sharing the room with Guanlin be alright?”

Looking at Jihoon's blank face, Guanlin figured that the older boy probably couldn't understand that last question from his mom.

"She's asking if it's alright for us to share a room later," Guanlin nudged Jihoon and translated the question into Korean for him.  

“Oh, of course! We share the room back in the dorm anyway!"

Guanlin leaned back against the back seat of the car and smiled at how Jihoon and his mom were conversing with each other. He was also secretly glad that he would be sharing the room with Jihoon, and only Jihoon, even if it was for just one night.

They arrived at Guanlin’s house and decided they would take a quick nap because Guanlin was really tired from the lack of sleep the night before. What was supposed to be a power nap lasted all the way to dinner time.

“Yaaaaa, Guanlin, wake up,” Jihoon nudged Guanlin who was currently rolled up in a ball of blanket on his bed that he had missed so much.

“Huh, what…?”

“You overslept.”

“Oh shit what? We were supposed to film oh my god sorry hyung,” Guanlin panicked and jumped out of his bed.

“It’s okay, they were filming me while you were sleeping,” Jihoon laughed.

“What did you do?”

“Something with your mom, but that’s our secret,” Jihoon put a finger to his lips and winked at Guanlin.

Damn it, he would have to ask his mom about that later.

“Our mission card says that we're supposed to visit Taipei 101 today and Shifen Old street tomorrow,” Jihoon scratched the back of his head with one finger. It was becoming a bad habit that Guanlin found really endearing.

“Ahhhhh.”

“Where are those places?”

“Somewhere romantic,” Guanlin joked, causing Jihoon to blush. “I’m joking, but really, I think you’re going to love it there.”

After numerous hugs and kisses from Guanlin’s parents, both boys follow their filming crew out and headed towards Taipei 101. The sun was just about to set, making it the perfect timing for going up the tower.

The filming staff followed both boys through the entrance and at this point, it was inevitable that they were recognized by some fans since they were at a tourist location.

In any case, they were still going to go up to the observatory deck to film and take photos. 

“Can we have two tickets for the observatory deck, please?” Guanlin spoke to the ticket girl in Chinese.

“Is he your boyfriend?” the girl asked Guanlin while handing him two tickets, clearing not recognizing who they were. “Both of you look good together.”

“Ah, no! We’re just friends,” Guanlin quickly said, not wanting her to misunderstand, but he wasn’t angry that she had thought that they were together because it actually did feel like a date. The thought of that made Guanlin want to smile. “We’re just here for filming,” he gestured to the crew behind him and the girl's mouth formed an o shape as she nodded her head in acknowledgment.

“In that case, maybe it would be better for you guys to take the VIP lift up?” she offered and pointed to a restricted room. “If you follow that security guard on the right of the ticket booth, he will take you’ll upstairs.”

“What did she say?” Jihoon was confused because he couldn’t understand Chinese.

“She’s asking us to take the VIP lift, hyung,” Guanlin smiled before grabbing Jihoon’s hand and leading him and the rest of the staff over to the security guard. He was feeling so at ease because he was on national soil and could speak Chinese freely to his heart’s content. When was the last time he had a decent conversation with someone in Chinese back in Korea?

The view from above was stunning and the city lights were so pretty that the only thing Jihoon could say since he reached the top was ‘wow’. They took a lot of selcas and even helped a lot of couples take their photos.

“I think I know why you said this place is romantic,” Jihoon finally said after they had spent quite a bit of them on the deck. “It’s a bit like Namsan Tower, just without all the love locks right?”

“I guess you could compare like this.”

“Don’t you feel like we’re on a date?”

Guanlin choked on his saliva. “Date?” How did Jihoon manage to read his mind?

“Mmmm, a date with my favourite dongsaeng,” Jihoon said happily and intertwined his hands with Guanlin’s, making the latter’s heartbeat increase because he wasn’t quite sure if Jihoon meant it as a joke or something more. 

Jihoon was sad when the staff had filmed enough footages of them because he didn’t want to go back down. He liked it up here since it made him feel like he was on top of the world without a single worry.

So instead of going all the way back down to ground level, Guanlin pushed Jihoon out of the lift on the 35th floor and waved goodbye to the filming crew.

“Why did we get off on this floor?” Jihoon asked with a puzzled expression. There was a Starbucks café with an unobstructed view to the city’s nightscape at this level and Jihoon was awestruck by how pretty it was.

“You said you didn’t want to go back down so quickly right?”

“But it says reservation only though,” he pointed to the English sign when he saw it and looked disappointed because he thought that they wouldn’t be able to go inside. “And besides, is it okay to be up here without the staff?”

“It’s okay, I spoke to the manager over the phone just now and he’s okay with it. I settled the reservation thing too.”

“Oh my god, Guanlin, I love you,” Jihoon said happily and bounced into the café like a puppy.

They spent the rest of the night drinking coffee and talking about life and Guanlin could swear that it was one of the best nights he has had in a long time. For a brief moment, he wondered if Jihoon felt the same way, but pushed the confusing thought out of his mind so he could enjoy just being in that moment with the person he likes.

 

** \+ nine. **

Guanlin shared a single bed with Jihoon for the second time in his life last night and waking up with Jihoon next to him felt so surreal, even more so than the first time because he hadn’t had a thing for the older boy at that time.

The second and last activity on Guanlin and Jihoon’s mission card was to release a sky lantern at a place called Shifen Old Street. 

Jihoon can’t even read the road signs so all he could do was follow Guanlin as they took a train out to Shifen which was a place on the Pingxi line and it looked like it came right out of a textbook on the Japanese Occupation.

It was breathtakingly beautiful though, Jihoon thought as he marvelled at the collection of old lanes and alleys around the railway station area that they had alighted at.

Guanlin explained to Jihoon how this place was originally built for transporting coal during the Japanese era, and that all the tracks ran straight through the village. That would explain why it looked like they had just stepped into a history textbook.

There were many roadside stalls selling snacks and it reminded Jihoon of the snack stalls they had back in Korean. Taiwan’s snacks were clearly different though, and Jihoon decided to buy a boneless chicken wing filled with rice to try. It was delicious and Guanlin thought that Jihoon looked like a little kid stuffing his mouth with food.

“Hyung, you shouldn’t eat so much.”

“Wae-aeng?” Jihoon said with his mouth full of chicken. He looked so cute that Guanlin just wanted to pinch his cheeks and coo, but held himself back because he remembered that the camera crew were all around them.

“Do you want to try my chicken?” Jihoon offered and shoved his half eaten chicken wing into Guanlin’s face, prompting him to take a bite.

“Ah…”

“Faster take a bite!”

Guanlin bit down on the chicken wing and the taste was like how he remembered it to be from before he left Taiwan more than a year ago.

“You got sauce all over your mouth, Guanlin-ah,” Jihoon used his thumb to wipe the stain at the corner of Guanlin’s chapped lips and sucked the sauce off, leaving Guanlin speechless.

“Yaaaaaa, that’s so dirty!”

“What’s so dirty about it? I only do it for you okay,” Jihoon said coyly and his attention went back to his chicken.

Guanlin felt his heart swell like mad that it might just burst at any point now.

After walking around and snacking for quite some time, and even meeting a number of fans, some locals and even some Koreans who were there on holiday, Guanlin and Jihoon decided to finish what was stated on their mission card – releasing a sky lantern.

There was a stretch of railway tracks that was part of the street with a number shops on both sides that were selling sky lanterns and various souvenirs. Guanlin hadn’t been here since he was a kid when he came here with his family and now he was here with his crush? The boy of his dreams? Guanlin still doesn’t know quite what to call Jihoon yet because he had yet to clear up all the muddled thoughts in his head.

He looked around and took in his surroundings, realizing that nothing has changed except that the stall owners seemed to have aged, and the buildings were even more worn out than before. While he was busy living his life and pursuing his dreams, he had forgotten that the rest of the world wouldn’t wait for him and would move on to.

“Would you like to buy a lantern, my dears?” an old lady approached them with a kind smile on her face as she gestured to the large pieces of colourful folded lanterns sitting on the table in the shop behind her.

“Yes please!” Guanlin replied and followed her back to her shop. There were so many colours to choose from and he was trying to refresh his memory on all the meanings by reading the colour chart off the wall.

**吉祥天燈**

**======天燈顏色意義======**

紅色 - 健康運 . 平安運

黃色 - 金錢運 . 發財運

藍色 - 事業運 . 工作運

紫色 - 讀書運 . 考試運

白色 - 前途運 . 光明運

橘色 - 愛情運 . 婚姻運

雙色 - 發旺運 . 順悲運

桃紅色 - 桃花運 . 人緣運

粉紅色 - 幸福運 . 快樂運

 

“What colour should we get?” Jihoon probed as he entered the shop. “I’m assuming that each colour has a different meaning right?” he pointed to the colour chart on the wall that Guanlin was looking at.

“Yeah, so red is for health, yellow is for wealth, blue for career, purple for school, white for future, green for success, magenta for popularity and pink for happiness,” he translated one by one for Jihoon who was unable to read the Chinese characters.

“What about orange?”

“Uhm, I don’t think it really applies to us though,” Guanlin looked at the Chinese characters which meant romance and marriage.

“I’m still curious.”

“It means love,” he answered, avoiding the use of the word romance and using the next best umbrella term he could find. He felt his face turn red. Why was this topic making him so nervous.

“Aww, that sounds good! Let’s take the orange to represent our love–”

Guanlin choked before Jihoon even finished his sentence

“–for Wannables,” he finished his sentence and Guanlin deflated like a balloon. Did Jihoon only love his fans and not his group members?

“Okay… And how about we also get red for health, blue for career and magenta for popularity?

They settled for those four colours and Guanlin handed some money to the old lady for their lantern. She helped them to hang the lantern up on the stand and gave them two brushes and black ink for writing.

“Please come and look for me when you’re done with one side,” she instructed kindly. “I’ll help you’ll to flip the lantern onto the other side without smudging the ink.”

Both Guanlin and Jihoon spent a good 30 minutes cramming as much well wishes they could think off onto the lantern. Guanlin wrote in Chinese while Jihoon wrote in Korean. Jihoon wasn’t happy that they could only have four colours so he divided each side of the lantern into two and labelled the bottom half as a different colour they didn’t have.

“Ah hyung!” Guanlin broke out in a fit of laughter when he realized what Jihoon had done. “That’s ridiculous it’s not going to work if you do it like this!”

“Well I like it,” Jihoon huffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, getting some of the black ink from the writing brush onto his skin.

“You’re going to look like a panda if you keep rubbing your face,” Guanlin warned, still laughing at how Jihoon could be so nonsensical.

He left the orange part for the last because he didn’t want Jihoon or any of the staff to have time to look at it. As Jihoon had written well wishes for his family, friends, and fans, Guanlin decided that Jihoon’s love alone was enough for all of them. He could be selfish here and think just for himself right?

The old lady was helping them to light their sky lantern up now. Guanlin made sure to turn the orange side away from the camera’s view and just right before releasing the lantern into the sky, he quickly added one more sentence in Chinese.

 _朴志訓_ _我好像愛上了你_ _。_

_Park Jihoon, I think I’m in love with you._

It wasn’t really a wish of any sort, but more of Guanlin’s unspoken confused feelings that he had been bottling up inside his chest since forever.

At this point, the sky had gotten dark and it was filled with colourful lanterns that had been lit and released into the air. The street was picturesque with dozens and dozens of floating lanterns and the mountain in the backdrop behind all of it.

Guanlin wrapped his arms Jihoon’s waist and held him close as the two of them watched their finished art of a lantern float away into the winter sky. He felt Jihoon’s breath hitch but the older boy did not say a single word about Guanlin’s skinship. Screw the cameras, Guanlin thought to himself. The fans can scream over this when it gets aired.

How he wished they could stay here like this forever.

 

** \+ ten (final).  **

It was just another stupendously normal week for Guanlin.

He went for dance, vocal and rap classes every day and then came back to the dorm and spent time with his group mates. He was getting quite bored with his routine and wanted to quickly start recording their new album so they would have more promotional activities. He preferred going on music and variety shows because he got to meet his fans. Not the sasaengs though. They were a pain in the ass, forever posing a threat to the safety of the people around him.

Before he knew it, it was finally Sunday and it just so happened that he didn’t have any schedules for the day. He opened his eyes to the late morning sunlight that shone into the room and found himself alone before remembering that the rest of the group had gone on a Spring hiking trip up the mountain. He had opted out because his stomach wasn’t feeling too well the last couple of days.

What should he do today in such big, empty house, all by himself? He wondered while lying on the bed, feeling bored and lacking the motivation to get up and wash up to start his day. He tOon the time to reflect a little on his life as an idol since his debut and the past year flashes through his eyes, or rather, it was the Taiwan trip he went with Jihoon flashed through his mind.

It had been two months since the trip ended (not that he had been counting the days) and he was currently reminiscing all the fun they had there.

Right now, Guanlin was convinced that whatever he felt for Jihoon was definitely something more than just platonic. He wasn’t sure if he should make it known though and the hesitation was there because he didn’t know if it was just a phase that he would get over, or if Jihoon even felt the same way. He didn’t want to do anything stupid or reckless that would put their friendship and their team’s dynamics at risk. They were doing so well at the moment and Guanlin loves where they are at now. 

But then again, he needed to deal with his problem because living in the same house, no fuck that, the same room as Jihoon and seeing his face every single day was not helping him at all.

At least it was a Jihoon free morning today. Or so he thought.

When Guanlin finally decided he was too hungry to continue lazing in bed, he dragged himself out from under the warm sheets and pushed himself off the bed to go to the toilet to wash up before heading to the kitchen.

What should he have for breakfast? He wondered as he entered the kitchen. There wasn’t much to eat since they rarely cooked. The only time they actually used the kitchen to cook proper food was when Minhyun and Jaehwan were filming their segment of Wanna One Go 1.0 in the dorm.

 _Weird._ Something seemed to be simmering in one of the pots on the stove. Did one of the members forget to turn it off before they left the house?

He checked the stove but the fire was already turned off. However, the steam that was coming out from the lid of the pot gave away the fact that whatever was in the pot only stopped boiling not too long ago.

Guanlin peered through the transparent glass lid into the pot. There was something that looked like a soup of some sort inside and it smelt really familiar.

He lifted the lid up.

“Hi,” someone went from behind Guanlin, causing him to jump and turn around. Wasn’t he alone in the house?

Jihoon was standing at the entrance of the kitchen with water dripping down the side of his forehead. His hair was wet and it was obvious he had just finished taking a shower. Seeing Jihoon in this state did weird things to Guanlin’s mind but that wasn’t the point now.

“Jihoon-hyung? What are you doing at home? Aren’t you supposed to be out hiking with the rest?” he asked with a look of surprise on his face.

“I decided not to go since you said you weren’t feeling well last night,” Jihoon answered and fiddled with his fingers. “I made you something to eat too, in case you were feeling hungry.”

“This?” Guanlin asked, pointing to the pot in front of him with the lid still in his hand.

“Yeah, it’s green bean soup,” Jihoon said sheepishly. “Your mom taught me how to make it when we were in Taiwan. She told me it was your favourite but I’m not sure if I got the taste right…” he let his words trail off.

So that was what Jihoon was doing while he was napping that day. 2.0 had not been aired at that point Guanlin only just found out what Jihoon and his mom had been up to that afternoon.

What he did next probably wasn’t the most rational decision he made.

“G-Guanlin, what–”

Jihoon’s sentence was cut short when Guanlin’s hands grabbed his arms and pushed him back roughly against the refrigerator.

“You drive me so crazy, Jihoon-ah,” Guanlin whispered before his lips closed in and took Jihoon’s into his, much to the older boy’s surprise.

The kiss was warm, soft and lingering and Guanlin made sure to move his lips gently before sliding his tongue in carefully. He didn’t want Jihoon to go into shock. He took a small bite on Jihoon’s swollen lower lip, earning a whimper from the older boy.

Jihoon whimpered. He actually whimpered. Guanlin couldn’t believe what he was hearing but he couldn’t deny the fact that he could feel Jihoon heating up and his heart beating almost as fast as Guanlin’s was. He also couldn’t believe it when he felt Jihoon loosen up against his hold and started kissing him back.

This was when everything started to sink into Guanlin’s head.

He was kissing Park Jihoon, the boy he had been crushing on and thinking about for the last few months. And it was probably the best thing he had done, second to going on Produce 101.

The kissing finally stopped, and both of them were panting hard.

“Guanlin, I…I don’t understand…”

Guanlin didn’t utter a single word. He opened his mouth for a while but the right words weren’t coming out so he closed it almost instantly. Jihoon looked dazed and confused as hell, and so was Guanlin.

Was it okay to continue?

He let go of Jihoon’s arms and moved back just tad bit to give the other boy a bit of room to catch his breath.

Both of them continued to stare at each other, saying nothing, doing nothing.

Jihoon bit on his lower lip and scratched the side of his head with one finger. “So… Do you want to try the green bean soup I made?”

At this point, Guanlin could almost confirm that Jihoon’s lack of a protest when he was being kissed was a sure sign that the older boy felt the same way about him.

“Not before I finish what I started with,” Guanlin hummed.

“W-what aren’t you done with?” Jihoon asked nervously as he stared down on the kitchen flooring.

“This,” he said as he crushed his lips on Jihoon’s once more and circled his arms around Jihoon’s waist. Jihoon obliged and wrapped his arms around Guanlin’ neck and returned the sensual kiss. They stayed in that somewhat compromising position for a while, not really knowing how long they had been going at it.

“Oh my god,” Jihoon murmured as he forced himself to break the kiss off because he was in great need of air. Guanlin pulled away from the older boy only to see his face flushed red.

“That… Felt kind of good,” Jihoon admitted, not daring to look at Guanlin in the face.

“You bet it did,” Guanlin replied boldly. “And I think it proves that what I’ve been thinking for the past few months is correct.”

“And what would that be?” Jihoon scrunched his eyebrows together and played coy.

“That I like you a lot. Like really a lot. More than just as a friend,” Guanlin leaned forward and whispered into Jihoon’s ear.

Jihoon buried his head into Guanlin’s chest in embarrassment, giving the younger boy a chance to hug him. The after shower scent lingered in the air and Guanlin felt the urge to throw Jihoon’s shampoo away before he loses his sanity.

“I like you too,” Jihoon murmured very inaudibly into Guanlin’s shirt.

“What did you say?” Guanlin pulled back and grinned at Jihoon. “I can’t hear you.”

“Guanlin-ah, don’t make me say it again,” Jihoon whined, his face turning red once more.

“Hyunggggg,” Guanlin whined back, determined to make Jihoon say the words again.

“Ah, you really… I like you too okay?” Jihoon repeated himself and quickly hid his face behind his hands. “Don’t look at me, my face is so red now,” Jihoon pouted cutely earning a snicker from Guanlin.

“But that’s what I like best about you, Jihoon-hyung,” Guanlin gently pried Jihoon’s hands away from his face and pushed his wet bangs out of his face. “You’re too cute for me to handle, so cute that I just want to keep you forever,” and hugged Jihoon again, crushing the air out of him as he gently rocked back and forth, feeling at the top of the world because he finally got that damned confession off his chest.

“You’re lucky we’re alone at home today, you know that?” Jihoon teased with a laugh that sounded like wind chimes to Guanlin’s ears. He was really whipped.

“Yeah I know, and I’m ready for that green bean soup now,” Guanlin smiled and intertwined his fingers with Jihoon’s before leading him back to the pot on the stove and ladling a bowl out to try.

“How is it?” Jihoon asked anxiously and waited for Guanlin to give a verdict.

Much to Guanlin’s surprise, it tasted just like the one his mom used to make for him.

“It’s…good,” he murmured and took another mouthful. What had he done to deserve to meet someone like Jihoon in his life?

“Well, that’s a relief,” Jihoon let out the breath he had been holding in. “Yaaaa, don’t cry! It’s just green bean soup!” he panicked when Guanlin started tearing.

“It’s just…it tastes just like home and you feel like home and this thing we have between us feels so right I don’t ever want it to stop,” Guanlin choked and tried to fight back his tears.

“You can have me and all the green bean soup in the world, Guanlin-ah, so don’t cry okay,” Jihoon said softly and stroked Guanlin’s hair. “It’s all yours and I’m all yours.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Jihoon answered, sealing his promise with a kiss on Guanlin’s forehead.

 

**~ finish ~**

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this monstrous piece of work and I hope I made someone's day with this story! The chinese colour chart I added was just so I could make the story feel more real and I don't really know if Guanlin has a dog back in Taiwan but let's just pretend he does haha. Comments and likes are very much welcomed to help me grow!


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